Category: Recreation

Just got back from my first time to ride the Red River Rally in Sherman. I was very impressed with the organization of the rally and the support, and shocked at the low attendance.

As far as the ride goes, I’ve only done a couple other rallies, but the road conditions, traffic conditions and the route itself were pretty ideal. Not all intersections were blocked off at the end – but hey, not everyone can stop everything just because there’s a bike rally. The traffic conditions were great – being more rural, there was not much traffic, even on the more major streets. I knew the route was supposed to have some hills, but was actually shocked at the amount of climbing. My computer tallied up just over 3,000 feet in total ascent, and while many of the rolling hills were a max of 4-5% grade, there were a couple over 10% that snuck up!

Rest stops were well supported – but one improvement would be to have marked them on the map ahead of time. Hard to plan whether to stop or not when you don’t know how far the next one is. All the stops I made had plenty of water and gatorade, and those with food and snacks had plenty for everyone (at least when I was there).

I headed out and stuck with the lead pack for the 60mile until about mile 8, after a few rolling climbs. I fell off their pace, and then was pretty much completely solo the rest of the ride. The low attendance and great support makes this a no brainer if your cycling group/club wants their own personal supported group ride! I’m a bit disappointed in my average speed, just barely 17mph. Since so much of the route was done solo – it was easy to zone out and go slow without realizing it. Well, that and it was a sunny day that was over 100. That might have something to do with it, too.